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fully as any Man in England. I have been accus'd as an Enemy to Parliaments. No! I understand them, and the Benefit that comes by them, too well to be fo; but I did miflike the Mifgovernments of fome Parliaments many Ways, and I had good Reafon for it, for Corruptio optimi eft peffima. There is no Corruption in the World fo bad as that which is of the best thing within itself; for the better the thing is in Nature, the worse it is corrupted. And that being the highest Court, over which no other hath Jurifdiction; when it is mifinform'd, or mifgovern'd, the Subject is left without all Remedy: But I have done. I forgive all the World, all and every of those bitter Enemies which have perfecuted me, and humbly defire to be forgiven of God firft, and then of every Man, whether I have offended him or not, if he do but conceive that I have: Lord do thou forgive me, and I beg Forgiveness of him; and fo I heartily defire you to join in Prayers with me.

Having ended his Prayers, and finding the Scaffold crowded, he defir'd they would give him room to die, that he might have an End of the Miseries he had fo long endur'd; and coming near the Block, he faid, God's Will be done. I am willing to go out of the World, none can be more willing to fend me; and perceiving fome People under the Scaffold thro' the Boards, he defir'd the Chinks might be stop'd, or the People remov'd, for he did not defire his Blood fhould fall upon their Heads. Sir John Clotworthy demanded of him, what was the most comfortable faying a dying Man could have in his Mouth: He anfwer'd, Cupio diffolvi & effe cum Chrifto. Sir John ftill prefs'd him with feveral impertinent Queftions, to which his Grace anfwer'd with abundance of Meeknefs; and turning to the Executioner, he gave him Money, and faid, Here honeft Friend, God forgive thee, and

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I do, and do thy Office upon me with Mercy. Ha ving made another fhort Prayer, he laid his Head down upon the Block, and pray'd a little time to himself, after which he said aloud, Lord receive my Soul; and this being the Signal, the Executioner immediately fever'd his Head from his Body at one Blow. He was buried after the Manner of the Church of England, in the Church of Allhallows, Barking; this being the very Day the Liturgy was abolifh'd by Ordinance of Parliament, and the Directory fet up in the room of it. A Brafs Plate was nail'd on his Coffin with this Infcription: In hac Ciftula conduntur Exuvia Gulielmi Laud, Archiepifcopi Cantuarienfis, qui fecuri percuffus Immortalitatem adiit Die x Januarii, Ætatis Jua 73, Archiepifcopatus XII. ...

His FAMILY, EDUCATION, and PROMO

TIONS.

William Laud was born at Reading in Barkshire, his Father being a principal Burgher of that Town His Mother's Name was Web, Sifter to Sir William Web, Lord Mayor of London. He was admitted Commoner in St. John's College, Oxon, and took the Degree of Doctor of Divinity in 1608; and after feveral other Preferments, was promoted to the Bishoprick of St. David's in 1622. In 1626, to that of Bath and Wells, and made Dean of King's-Chappel the fame Year: Two Years after he was tranflated to the Bishoprick of London, and in 1633 was preferred to the See of Canterbury. His Zeal for promoting Uniformity in the Church procur'd him many Enemies, which upon the breaking out of the Rebellion grew ftill more implacable, being further provok'd by the Archbishop's unalterable Loyalty. For thefe Reafons, in the Beginning of that Revolt in the Reign of King Charles I. he was by the Prevalence of

the

the Faction committed to the Tower, and afterwards charg'd by the rebellious Parliament with a Defign to introduce Popery, and reconcile the Churches of England and Rome, &c. The King being defeated at Marfton-Moor, the Rebels thought themselves fecure, and proceeded to fentence him to Death, and upon the 10th of January 1644, he was murder'd by the Ax on Towerhill, where his Behaviour was compos'd, pious, and well fupported. Col. Hift. Dict.

His CHARACTER.

He was a Perfon of a regular Converfation, very charitable, and publick-fpirited. His Parts and Industry were both extraordinary, and he was well acquainted with Men as well as Books: By thefe Advantages he became both an able Statesman and good Divine. The moft con fiderable of his Works is that against Fisher, in which he very learnedly defends the Church of England against the Objections of his Adversary. Vide Cyprianus Anglicus, F. Lloyd's Memoirs, and Wharton's Life of Archbishop Laud.

His CHARACTER by CLARENDON. Within one week after the King's Return from Scotland, Archbishop Abbot died at his House at Lambeth. The King took very little time to confider who fhould be his Succeffor, but the very next time the Bishop of London came to him, his Majefty entertain'd him very chearfully with this Compellation, My Lord's Grace of Canterbury, you are very welcome, and gave Order the fame Day for the Dispatch of all the neceffary Forms for the Tranflation; fo that within a Month, or thereabouts, after the Death of the other Archbishop, he was compleatly invested in that high Dignity, and fettled in his Palace at Lambeth. This great Prelate

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Prelate had been before in great Favour with the Duke of Buckingham, whofe chief Confident he was, and by him recommended to the King as fitteft to be trufted in the conferring all Ecclefiaftical Preferments, when he was but Bishop of St. David's, or newly preferr'd to Bath and Wells; and from that time he entirely govern'd that Province without a Rival: So that his Promotion to Canterbury was long forefeen and expected, nor was it attended with any Encrease of Envy or Dislike. He was a Man of great Parts and very exemplary Virtues, allay'd and difcredited by fome unpopular natural Infirmities; the greatest of which was (befides a hafty fifarp Way of expreffing himself) that he believ'd Innocence of Heart, and Integrity of Manners, was a Guard ftrong enough to fecure any Man in his Voyage thro' this World, in what Company foever he travell'd, and thro' what Ways foever he was to pass: And fure never any Man was better fupplied with that Provifion. He was born of honeft Parents, who were well able to provide for his Education in the Schools of Learning, from whence they fent him to St. John's College in Oxford, the worst endow'd at that time of any in that famous Univerfity: From a Scholar he became a Fellow, and then the Prefident of the College, after he had receiv'd all the Graces and Degrees (the Proctorfhip and the Doctorfhip) could be obtain'd

there.

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He was always maligned and perfecuted by those who were of the Calvinian Faction, which was then very powerful, and who, according to their ufual Maxim and Practice, call every Man they do not love Papift: And under this fenfelefs Appellation, they created him many Troubles and Vexations; and fo far fupprefs'd him, that tho' he was the King's Chaplain, and taken notice of

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for an excellent Preacher, and a Scholar of the moft fublime Parts, he had not any Preferment to invite him to leave his poor College, which only gave him Bread, till the Vigour of his Age was paft: And when he was promoted by King James, it was but to a poor Bishoprick in Wales, which was not fo good a Support for a Bifhop as his College was for a private Scholar.

Parliaments in that time were frequent,, and grew very bufy, and the Party, under which he had fuffer'd a continual Perfecution, appear'd ve ry powerful, and full of Defign. And they who' had the Courage to oppose them, begun to be taken notice of with Approbation and Countenance: Under this Stile he came to be first cherifh'd by the Duke of Buckingham, who had made fome Experiments of the Temper of the other People, nothing to his Satisfaction. From this time he profper'd at the Rate of his own Wifhes, and being transplanted out of his cold barren Diocefs of St. David's into a warmer Climate, he was left, as was faid before, by that great Favourite in that great Truft with the King; who was fufficiently indifpos'd towards the Perfons, or the Principles of Calvin's Difciples. When he came into great Authority, it may be he retain'd too keen a Memory of those who had fo unjustly and uncharitably perfecuted him before; and, I doubt, was fo far tranfported with the fame Paffions he had reafon to complain of in his Adversaries, that as they accus'd him of Popery, because he held fome doctrinal Opinions which they lik'd not, tho' they were nothing allied to Popery So he entertain❜d too much Prejudice to fome Perfons, as if they were Enemies to the Difcipline of the Church, because they concur'd with Calvin in fome doctrinal Points, when they abhor'd his Difcipline, and reverenc'd the Government of the Church,

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